"Mr. Ruscoe denies the allegations and intends to exercise all the rights and defenses available to him under the law," Fitzpatrick said later as he and Ruscoe left the Golden Hill Street courthouse. "Just because he is a police officer doesn't mean he forfeits the right to defend himself."

Fitzpatrick declined to comment on the informationt.

Police had earlier said there may be more victims.

Richards transferred the case to the Main Street courthouse for a plea hearing on April 1.

Dressed in a gray suit, white shirt and dark tie, Ruscoe sat in the back of the arraignment court standing out from the rest of the clientele. When his name was called, he walked to the front of the courtroom and stood beside his lawyer before the judge.

Attorney Guy Soares, who represents the teenage victim, stood to the right of Fitzpatrick. At Soares' request, the judge ordered Ruscoe to have no further contact with the victim, who was not in the courtroom.

Ruscoe, 44, a 19-year veteran of the Trumbull Police Department, has been charged with second-, third- and fourth-degree sexual assault and tampering with a witness. If convicted of the charges, he could face 20 years in prison.

State Police allege that Ruscoe, adviser to the Trumbull Police Cadets, formerly the Explorer post, and drill instructor for the annual teen Police Cadet Academy, began texting the teenage girl last March that he wanted to have a sexual relationship with her and then texted her naked photographs of himself and his wife, and described having sex with his wife to the teen.

State police said Ruscoe later drove the girl to his former Trumbull home where he handcuffed her and sexually assaulted her.

The girl told police that at one point Ruscoe told her to call him "Jack" as in the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 movie "Titanic," according to police reports.

State police said the girl told them that Ruscoe would visit her many times at Trumbull High School. Trumbull school officials did not return calls for comment.

Ruscoe is suspended with pay from the Trumbull Police Department pending an internal investigation.

Ruscoe's wife was not with him at the courthouse Wednesday. She recently had a civil judgment filed against her, but according to court papers process servers have been unable to locate her.